Method and means for producing sleep by creating the illusion of a winking eye



Aug. 12, 1947. c, w, JOHNSON 2,425,538

METHOD AND MEANS FOR rnonucme SLEEP BY CREATING THE 11.111510" OF Awmxme EYE Filed June 6, 1946 2? I Ea I nvenhnz- I masiez'wdohns m L Q I27, I x

Patented Aug. 12, 1947 METHOD AND MEANS FOR PRODUCING SLEEP BY CREATINGTHE ILLUSION OF A WINKING EYE Chester W. Johnson, Bridgewater, Mass.Application June 6, 1946, Serial No. 674,906

This invention relates to a method and means I for inducing sleep inpersons desiring to sleep.

,In order that the principle of the invention may be readily understood,I have in the accompanying drawing disclosed a single embodiment of themeans of my invention and by which my method may be most effectivelycarried out.

In said drawing: a

Fig. 1 is a front elevation of the device or apparatus constituting themeans of my invention;

Fig. 2 is a vertical, substantially central section on the line 2-2 ofFig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a rear elevation of the construction shown in Fig. l, but withthe back cover removed;

Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fig. 3 but with the back cover in place;

9 Claims. (Cl. 128-1) Fig. 5 is a detail in vertical section showing theeye-simulation;

Figs. 6 and 7 are respectively a plan view and a side elevation showingone form of means whereby the electric current is at very frequent,substantially regular intervals cut oif from the electric light bulbtransmitting light rays through the upper portion of the eye-simulation,to create an impression of winking;

Figs. 8 and 9 are respectively a, side elevation and an end elevation ofanother form of means for-the same purpose;

Fig. 10 is a diagrammatic view of an open eye and a winked eye; and

Fig. 11 is a diagram of the electric circuit employed.

. The object of my invention is to provide a device or small apparatuswhich is light and easily handled and which may be set up in a bedroom,a sleeping apartment or in any other appropriate place, of the persondesiring to sleep,- as, for example, by hanging the same upon a wall orsupporting the same upon a bureau, which device or apparatus constantlyrepeats at very frequent, substantially regular intervals an act oroperation upon which a person desiring to sleep may concentrate his orher attention, thus driving from mind other thoughts that would tend tokeep him or her awake. Everyone knows of the practice or theory ofcounting sheep" in order to induce sleep in a person afllicted withinsomnia. Such counting of sheep or the like is an expedient forconcentrating the mind upon something that will, if successful, driveout thoughts tending to keep one awake, as, for example, businessworries, etc., and thus bring the person into a frame of mind inducingsleep.

I am aware that it has been proposed to employ a device on the order ofa small blinker light to induce sleep, such device being shown in Frenchpatent to Guilhaumon No. 29,863, Nov. 10, 1925. I myself, as a firstproposed embodiment of my invention tried a small blinker light for thepurpose, but found it entirely ineffective to produce sleep. It was notuntil the idea of simulating a slowly winking eye occurred to me and Iconstructed and tested the same that I was successful. I believe thatthe effect of a slowly winking eye is a gentle hypnotic or suggestiveinfluence, and that a person desiring sleep and being in bed or in aposition to sleep, watching a slowly winking eye, unconsciously beginsto imitate with his own eyes such simulated eye winking. If suchv personcontinues unconsciously to wink in imitation of the simulated winkingeye, he or she will speedily fall asleep. It is a. matter of commonknowledge and observation that if one of several persons in a, roombegins to yawn, the other persons begin to imitate. I have by myinvention availed myself of this unconscious tendency to imitate.

In accordance with my invention I provide upon a suitable, relativelysmall, easily handled support vor member the simulation of an eye,preferably a human eye, and I create upon said support or member theillusion of the winking of such eye at very frequent, substantiallyregular intervals. Tests made with the device prove that it is effectivefor the said purpose. I create the illusion of the winking of theartificial eye by providing a source or sources of artificial light inthe rear of the said eye upon said support or member, so that the lightrays from such source or sources of artificial light are transmittedthrough the eye-simulation on said support or member to the personwatching the same and, at constant, very frequent intervals such asevery second or every two seconds, -I interrupt the light rays throughthe upper portion or half of the eye-simulation but constantly preservethe light rays through the lower portion of the eye-simulation. Thiscreates the illusion that the eye is winking and the person desiringsleep and viewing the device will, when the device is successfully used,begin to count the times the eye seems to wink and after a little islulled off to sleep because he has thus concentrated his mind upon theaction of the device, and has more or less unconsciously imitated thesimulated winking eye or eyes.

Preferably I provide two very small electric light bulbs at the rear ofthe device or apparatus which are connected up to a suitable source ofelectricity, and between said two light bulbs accuse 3 I provide a lightchamber having two windows or openings through which the light rays arereceived from said bulbs respectively above and below a partition insaid chamber} which partition extends transversely entirely across theeyeslmulation that is provided upon a transparent or translucent,preferably central portion of the said support or member and whichtransparent or translucent portion has the representation of an eyethereon. By any suitable means I interrupt, at very frequent,substantially regular intervals, the current to the electric light bulbsupplying light to the upper portion or half of the eye but keep thelight rays constantly passing" from the other electric light bulbthrough the lower portion of said eye-simulation. This creates theillusion that the eye-simulation is win-k- Having thus referred broadlyto the means for accomplishing th purpose of my invention, I will,without limiting myself thereto, set forth the preferred embodiment ofmeans for practicing I my invention and by which the method thereof maybe carried out. i

I provide a member I which may be of any suitable shape, form and size,but which is preferably of inverted saucer-like or concaved disk formand which may be hung upon the wall of the room containing the would-besleeper, or may be supported upon a bureau or other article of furniturein the rocim in view of the person lying down and desiring to sleep. Thesaid member I may be of any suitable material such as metal or plasticand the shape and form may, of course, be varied within the scope of theinvention. Desirably, however, the member is, as above stated, ofconcave or saucer-like'form and is provided at the back with apreferably flat cover 2 that may be secured to the member I, as by aseries of screws 3, to a series of lugs 4 upon the inner wall of themember I. Said lugs 4 may be of any suitable number, as, for example,four, equally spaced apart, or they may be formed as a continuous flangeupon the inner face of the member I.

At the front of the member I (that is, at the left viewing Fig. 2) maybe formed a molding or other conformation '5 that surrounds a flat faceor portion 6 which itself has an opening of any suitable size, such asindicated at I, and which also has secured at the inner face thereof twolugs 8, 8 for holding in place a disk 9 of glass or other suitablesubstantially transparent material.

Surrounding the said glass disk 9 and the supporting lugs 8 at the innerface of the member I is a light-chamber the wall whereof is indicated atI and which may be of cylindrical form as shown in Figs. 1 to-3 or ofany other suitable shape. Such light-chamber may be and preferably isintegral with the face or portion Ii and makes a light-excluding contactwith the inner surface of the back cover 2, as indicated in Fig. 2. Thesaid wall I9, as shown best in Fig. 3, has two windows or openings II,I2 close to which, outside thereof are two very small electric lightbulbs I3, I4. Said bulbs are so small that the cost of keeping theinvention in operation all night, after the person falls asleep, wouldbe but a fraction of a cent.

both above and below the transverse partition II so that the light raysfrom the lower bulb ll pass constantly through the window or opening I2into the light chamber III and then outwardly through theeye-simulation. The light rays from the other or upper electric lightbulb I3 pass only through the window II into the light chamber I0 abovethe transverse partition I5 and thence outwardly to the eye of theperson lying down and desiring to go to sleep.

In order to simulate an eye, preferably a human eye, I apply in anysuitable way to the inner face of the glass disk 9, as shown best inFig. 5, a white coating, layer or the like ll of the full area of saidglass disk 9 to simulate the white of the eye, and at the front face ofthe said glass disk 9 I apply, as shown best in Fig.- 5, a simulation I8of the pupil of an eye of any suitable color, as,

glass 9 from the bulb I3 between the flashes thereof even though thebulb I3 does not wholly cease to emit light but glows faintly betweenflashes.

' My invention, however, is not limited to the described means forsimulating an eye, though I prefer to apply the simulation of the pupilof an eye to the front or outer face of the glass disk 9. The two lightbulbs I3, I4 are connected in parallel by the wires, indicated generallyat I9,- 20, which latter extends to a switch 2| provided at any suitablepoint upon the member I. From the switch 2I and from the wire 20 thecurrentcarrying main-line wires extend as indicated at 22, 23, and areof any suitable length and are provided with a suitable terminal plug(not shown) by which the device or apparatus may be plugged into asuitable supply of electricity such as a volt line.

. I provide any suitable means, indicated generally at 24 in Figs. 3 and11, for interrupting the current supplied to the electric light bulb I3at very frequent, substantially regular intervals. While any suitablemeans may be provided for this purpose, and while myinvention is notlimited to any particular means, I have indicated in Figs. 6, '7, 8 and9 two different means for the purpose, that shown in Figs. 6 and 7 beingparticularly adapted to the relatively small structure shown in Figs. 1to 5, which structure in actual practice may be about nine inches indiameter, my invention, however, not being limited to any particularsize of parts.

In Figs. 6 and 7 is shown at 25 a. member preferably of brass and whichis secured, as by a base 25', to the inner face of the flat cover 2, andwhich is connected by a wire 26 to the circuit shown in the diagram Fig.11 or independently to a suitable source of electricity. Pivoted to thebase 25' at 21 is a thermostatic member 28. made up of any two suitablematerials for the purpose, such as steel and brass, and about which iswrapped a very fine wire 29, the end 30 whereof is suitably connected tocomplete a circuit in such manner that the heating of the thermostaticmember 28 by the current through the wire 29 causes the said member 28to separate from contact with the brass member 25 at 3|, the contactbeing remade at 3 I after an exceedingly brief interval because of thecooling of the thermostatic member 28, the recontact being caused by theinherent springiness of the thermostatic member 28. This make-and-breakis repeated at very short, regular intervals such as every one or twoseconds.

In Figs. 8 and 9 is shown means that would or might be employed with alarger, heavier structure for the same purpose, but which is notparticularly adapted to the relatively small structure shown in Figs. 1to 5, though it might be used in other embodiments of my invention.InFigs. 8 and 9 is shown a very small electric motor 32 driven in anysuitable manner, as by wiring of a circuit indicated at 33 and having ashaft 34 on which is fast a radial conducting arm 35 adapted to travelabout while making suitable contact with the inner face of a suitablysupported annular conductor 36 and which latter has an open space or gapat 31 to cause a break in the circuit at every rotation of the shaft 34with its arm 35.

Other suitable means may be provided for the purpose of making a breakin the circuit at very frequent, substantially regular intervals.

The device or apparatus may be provided with any suitable meansby whichit may be hung upon a wall conveniently near a source of electriccurrent. For that purpose I may provide a loop 36 by which it may besuspended from a hook upon the wall.

In order to prevent overheating of the device or apparatus I provide oneor more vent holes such as indicated at 3'! in Fig. 4 forthe circulationof air, and desirably I so form the member at the back thereof at topand bottom by cutting out or shaping small parts thereof, as indicatedin Figs. 1, 2 and 3 at 31', thereby to permit the circulation of airclose to the back cover 2.

In Fig. I have indicated at 38 an open eye and at 39 an eye in thewinked condition simulated by the-use of the device or apparatus asherein described. During the time when both the electric lights I3 and Mare in action the appearance of the eye is that shown at 38 in Fig. 10,and at the time when electricity is cut off from the electric bulb I3the appearance of the eye is that indicated at 39 in Fig. 10.

Although I have referred to the support member I as relatively small, soas to be capable of being hung upon a wall or supported upon a bureau, Ihave also referred to it as of any suitable shape, form and size. I may,within the scope of my invention, apply the invention to some sucharticle of furniture as a clock of any suitable size, the face thereofat some suitable part having a transparent or translucent portionwhereon is the simulation of one eye or of two eyes, preferably as closetogether as the human eyes are, and in the event of simulating two eyes(that is, both eyes of a person), certain parts of the device or meanshereinabove described will be duplicated, so as to create the illusionof the winkling of both eyes, preferably at the same time. That is, iftwo eyes of a person are represented I would preferably have two smallelectric light bulbs behind each eye, with a partitioned light-chamberfor each eye, but within the scope of my invention I may employ only twoelectric light bulbs, one of which will transmit light rays to the upperportion of both eyes and the other of which will transmit light rays tothe lower portion of both eyes, in which case the two eyes will winksimultaneously when the upper light is cut off at the described frequentshort intervals. Or if -I employ two lights for each of the two eyes,the electrical connections may be such that the two eyes wink inalternation, though I may cause them to wink simultaneously. I

The eye-simulation v is effected or provided in the same manner ashereinbefore described, if two eyes are used, and the wiring connectionsare such as to effect the intermittent cutting of! of light rays to theupper part of both eyes, either simultaneously or in alternation. In anycase the transverse partition for an eye may be straight or slightlycurved as shown.

Having thus described the method of my invention and the best meansknown to me for carrying out the same, it is to be understood thatalthough specific terms are employed, they are used in a generic anddescriptive sense and not for purposes of limitation, the scope of theinvention being set forth in the following claims.

' I claim:

1. That method for inducing sleep comprising establishing the semblanceof an eye capable of transmitting light, in a bedroom, apartment or thelike, in view of a person desiring to sleep; transmitting constantly,through the lower part of said eye, rays of light from an artificialsource of light behind said eye; transmitting light rays from a. sourceof artificial light behind said eye through the upper part of said eye;and at very frequent, substantially regular intervals interruptingbriefly the light rays through the upper part of said eye, therebysimulating in the mind of such person the winking of the said eye, andthereby producing imitation and inducing sleep through the regularity ofthe winking simulation.

2. Means for inducing sleep comprising a supporting member having aportion thereof capable of transmitting rays of lights and adapted to besupported in a' bedroom, apartment or the like, in view of a persondesiring to sleep; a light-transmitting eye-simulation at saidlight-transmitting portion of said member; at least one source ofartificial light behind said eye-simulation so positioned that the lightrays pass through both the upper and the lower portions of saideye-simulation; and means for interrupting at very frequent,substantially regular intervals the light rays through the upper part ofsaid eye-simulation, thereby creating the illusion of the winking ofsaid eye in the mind of said person desiring sleep, and thus producingimitation and inducing sleep through the regularity of thewinking-simulation.

3. Means for inducing sleep comprising a supporting member having aportion thereof capable of transmitting rays of light and adapted to besupported in a bedroom, apartment or the like, in view of a persondesiring to sleep; a lighttransmitting eye-simulation at saidlight-transmitting portion of said member; two sources of artificiallight in the rear of said member and so positioned as respectively totransmit light rays through the upper and through the lower 'pOrtions ofsaid eye-simulation, and means for interrupting at very frequent,substantially regular intervals the light rays from the source of lightthrough the upper portion of said eye-simulation, thereby creating'theillusion of the winking of said eye in the mind of said person desiringto sleep, and thus producing imitation and inducing sleep through theregularity of such winking simulation.

4. Means for inducing sleep in accordance with claim 3, but wherein atthe rear of the said member between said two sources of artificiallight, there is provided a light chamber into which light i admittedfrom said two source of artificial light, and which light chambersurrounds that portion of said member capable of transmitting light raysoutward to the eyes of the said person.

5. Means ior inducing sleep in accordance with claim 3, but wherein atthe rear of the said member between said two sources 01' artificiallight,

there is provided a light chamber into which light is admitted from saidtwo sources artificlal light, and which light chamber surrounds thatportion of said member capable of transmitting light rays outwardto theeyes oi! the said person, said light chamber having a transversepartition extending across said eye-simulation substantially centrallythereof.

8. Means for inducing sleep in accordance with claim 3, but wherein thesaid two sources of artificial light are two very small electric lightbulbs electrically connected to a source 01' electricity.-

and means to break the circuit to the light bulb transmittin light raysthrough the upper portion of said eye-simulation at very frequent,substantially regular intervals, .while maintaining the circuit to theother light bulb. v

7. Means for inducing sleep in accordance with claim 3, but whereinmeans is provided to circulate air through the interior of such concavedisk member to avoid overheating.

8. Means for inducing sleep in accordance with claim 3, but wherein atthe rear oi! the said member between said two sources or artificial 8 i.light,,the re is provided a light chamber into which light is admittedfrom said two sources of artificial light, and which light chambersurrounds that portion of said member capable-oi transmitting light raysoutward'to the eyes of the said person, the said light chamber beingsubstantially cylindrical in form and having in REFERENCES CITED Thefollowing references are of record in the file of this patent:

FOREIGN PATENTS Country Date France l NOV. 10, 1925 Number

